


girls like girls

by yourloveisameme



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Drabble, F/F, I Don't Even Know, Psychic Abilities, idk I just crave kiyoyachi, special powers AU, that's a thing right?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-29
Updated: 2017-02-28
Packaged: 2018-08-18 11:42:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8160946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourloveisameme/pseuds/yourloveisameme
Summary: Kiyoyachi AU drabbles/one-shots! Because the world needs more Kiyoyachi, that's why.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Rubatosis (n.): the unsettling awareness of your own heartbeat

Yachi couldn’t stand wearing other people’s clothes. She didn’t like the feelings they left behind, the emotions sewn into the seams and memories folded in the creases where the previous owner bent their elbows. She could see flashes in the back of her mind, of people and places she’d never seen, and feel the accompanying heart-jolts, shivers, rushes of blood. A totally useless power. Nothing special. (Not like Yamaguchi, whose invisibility helped him retreat when the world got to be too much for him, or Hinata, who could literally _fly._ ) It was only a distraction and another thing to worry about. She was glad she didn’t have siblings to get hand-me-downs and was well-off enough not to buy things secondhand. She always wore her own clothes. Always.

But some days, like today, she forgot to be careful. She’d forgotten her sweater at home, in her rush not to miss the train. It was freezing, and the October evening air was cold, but she wasn’t going to take one of the spare Karasuno jackets--who knew what leftover feelings and adrenaline and boy thoughts were in those things? Yachi liked her teammates and everything, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to know that much about them. So. She was just going to bear it. She and Kiyoko would be done cleaning up the gym anytime soon now, and then she would get to go home and snuggle in her nice warm pajamas with a cup of steaming tea--

“Yachi,” said Kiyoko. “You’re shivering.” Without waiting for Yachi to response, she took off her own hoodie and placed it on Yachi’s shoulders.

No, she screamed internally. No.

But wait. This wasn’t uncomfortable. It was...soft, familiar somehow, like slipping into your own bed after days of being away. She pulled the jacket closer around herself, putting her arms into the sleeves, feeling the navy blue plush fabric and smelling the vanilla-lavender scent that clung to it. No tornado of emotions assaulted her senses. It was just...still. Calm. Kind of like Kiyoko herself. A quiet warmth wrapping around her, reverberating through her whole body. And the only images in her head were of this gym, of bouncing volleyballs, of white sneakers against the floor, of the vicarious rush of watching a game and the warm fluttery feeling of pride afterwards. 

Yachi looked up at the other girl, trying to ignore the fact that Kiyoko was now wearing just a half see-through white tee that showed off her curves. Kiyoko was smiling. “Better?” Yachi’s heart was in her throat. She nodded, unable to speak.

“Good,” said Kiyoko. “Let’s get back to work, then.”

“O-okay,” she stammered. She turned away and picked up the nearest volleyball, hoping her face wasn't turning _that_ pink.


	2. Ultramarine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ultramarine (adj.): a deep blue color; lit. "beyond the sea"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all I wanted was a mermaid AU, it turned into angst...¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

It's her.

Yachi steps closer to the aquarium tank, staring. She presses a shaking hand to the glass. It’s cool to her touch. “Is it really her?” she whispers, more to herself than to Shouyou, who stands behind Yachi, watching with sympathetic, pitying eyes.

She’s paler and skinnier than Yachi has ever seen. Her human half frail and bony, her ribs showing through her skin. Her tail, which once shimmered in the light like blue opal gleaming in shades of blue and green and maybe even purple at an angle, seems in to have lost all its shine. She’s lying against the plastic rocks in this artificial habitat, her black hair fanning out behind her in the water. Fast asleep, face locked in a stony, tired expression. The expression someone who’s given up.

Yachi can't believe Kiyoko is here, right in front of her. All these years of hoping, gathering clues. Trying to track her down, to her parent's disdain. (It was bad enough that she was a lesbian chasing after a girl who'd disappeared long ago. Imagine what they'd think if they knew she was in love with a member of the lesser species.) So much time has passed and all along she was right in Miyagi.

“It's awful,” Yachi whispers under her breath, afraid the slightest noise might disturb the fragile silence that lingers in this nearly-empty hallway.

Shoyou put his hand in hers and squeezed, hard. “I know.”

This is the same aquarium she'd visited on field trips as a wide eyed grade schooler squealing over the rainbow-colored fish, the clear bobbing jellyfish with their funny tentacles, the ancient turtles with their leather skin.

Somehow it’s worse that Kiyoko is here in this nice clean place, watched over by caretakers and marine biologists. Plexiglass making sure no one could get in, or out.

Somehow it’s worse that she’s here, blatantly on display, than at a black market circus. At least then Yachi could blame criminals for ripping Kiyoko from the sea where she belonged. 

She still remembers her thrashing on the wooden pier, struggling, trying to tear through the mesh net, gripping with her fingers and her teeth. But it was no use. The steel fibers of the net drew blood from her fingers and cut her soft pink lips. She wasn't meant to be out of water for this long, she was gasping and turning blue. Yachi screamed and begged the fishermen to stop but a man, one of her parent's friends, grabbed her arm and held her back.

Yachi's hometown was a town on the brink of collapse, living out its last wheezing days. The chemicals from the factories leached into the water that led to the shore. The once-beautiful, pristine beach was ruined by tourism. The townspeople reached desperately towards the visitors, trying to making a a income in this godforsaken place off the merfolk who were sometimes sighted along the shore (though few tourists were lucky enough to do so.) The ground was littered with old beer cans and soda rings, plastic bags and sharp edges of glass.

It was here among the rocky waves that Kiyoko appeared one day, a pretty girl not much older that Yachi herself.

Yachi was seven and making her way through the less populated, less dirty parts of the beach, walking barefoot as she picked up shells among the scattered debris. Suddenly there was a splash in the corner of her eye. Yachi turned around and yelped, dropping her bucket in shock. The strange, beautiful creature stared at her, just as startled as Yachi was.

She ran back inside for help, but by the time she'd gotten an adult the mermaid was gone.

A fortnight later, she was pulled in the middle of the night by a mysterious song that sent shivers down your spine, the likes of which she'd never heard. She could not explain it. It wasn't a language, yet it wasn't a simple animal cry. It had a feel to it beyond random vocalization and it struck Yachi straight to her core.

She crept down to the rocky place on the edge where the water crashed against sharp boulders. It was the same girl--if you could even call a merperson a girl-- singing softly to herself as she floated serenely through the water. Caught in her own thoughts, in the melody. Their eyes met. She gasped and with a flick of her long gleaming tail she dove back into the water.

“Wait,” Yachi called, “Come back!” She took a seat on the edge, submerging her calves in the freezing salty water. “Don't stop. That was amazing.”

And she'd hesitated but gave in and sang. Shy at first, but gradually she opened up to Yachi. Now the only time she’d be able to sing is in front of gawking audiences. Kiyoko can't sing in water. Her humanoid lungs need real air and oxygen, for her voice to bloom. She can only hear her own lovely voice when she’s taken out of water to practice for shows. A schedule on the wall lists the times that one can come see her perform.

Yachi's palms are becoming sticky with sweat, leaving prints when she takes her hands off the glass.

A cluster of people approaches, led by a tour guide, walking through this area to check out out the exhibit. They are loud, talking and pointing at That Thing in the tank. One of the kids bangs on the glass, trying to wake her. 

"Please don't bang on the glass," the tour guide says. "Anyway...the _hydro sapiens amabae,_ our most popular exhibit...the only female specimen in Japan..." 

The kid pouts. “Ugh, why won't it wake up? This is boring.” 

Yachi stiffens. _It_. Like Kiyoko is a display object.

And it’s true, every little thing is made to exaggerate Kiyoko’s aesthetic qualities. Despite her unhealthiness, her frailness--the aquarium people either don't care or can't even tell about her health-- she has fine bone structure and glossy dark hair. She’s beautiful, or at least attractive in an objectifying way. There's faint pink marks on her skin where the display bra attached to her digs into her skin. Two shells placed together, emphasizing her breasts.

Kiyoko had never understood the human obsession with covering the body unnecessarily. She’s supposed to be topless, she was always topless, and there was nothing erotic about it. When Yachi peeled off her outer layers and got in the water with her. It was just comfortable. Natural. And she’d stay there for hours swimming beside her, Kiyoko making sure Yachi didn’t drown.

“It's kinda hot,” says a teenage boy, snickering. He takes out his iPhone 13 and snaps a picture, his friends snickering along with him. Yachi realizes with horror what purposes the picture could be used for, later.

She feels sick.

Yachi doesn't realize she is shaking until Shouyou puts his hand on her shoulder and says, “Don't listen to them.” His own eyes burn with righteous anger.

It shouldn't be like this. Kiyoko has never made any trouble, she doesn't deserve this. Kiyoko was soft and precious and wonderful. She'd been so patient with Yachi, all those years as they grew up together, teaching her how to sign so that they could speak in their own way. They talked and laughed and stayed in that almost-magical space where Yachi’s family didn’t matter, and Kiyoko’s tribe didn’t matter, and they were the only two people in the world.

“Yachi,” says Shoyou softly. “We should go.”

Yachi doesn’t move.

The worst is that Kiyoko is alone now, which isn't surprising considering the rarity of the catch. A sinking feeling tells Yachi that this isolation was probably deliberate. They wouldn't want the merfolk banding together to create an escape plan. Or, worse yet, form a community of sorts with social bonds and drama. It would be unsettling. Too human. Visitors don’t want to be reminded that merfolk aren't simple aquatic creatures but _people_ full of hopes and dreams and love.

A small tug on her hand reminded Yachi that they had to leave if they didn't want to be locked in the aquarium forever. She didn't care, she would have gladly stayed here all night by her side dozing against the hard glass. As if wouldn't make up for anything, the unfairness of it all, the cruelty.

Kiyoko wakes up right then.

Yachi's heart jumps out of her chest, a cold sweat breaking out over her body.

They gaze at each other.

Kiyoko's eyes were just as Yachi remembered them. Misty-gray. Kiyoko oozes desperation and longing, a yearning to get out. Desire so strong that Yachi can feel it all the way across the room. Shocked, blinking in disbelief, Kiyoko glides through the water to press her hand against the glass.

Yachi meets her hand with her own, pressing it against the a transparent barrier between them.

She is here, right here, on the other side of the clear glass. So close yet so far.

She finds herself unable to look away.

There are no words to say. The only things Yachi wants to express are things she couldn’t say in words, but there’s this stupid glass between them and Kiyoko’s trapped and she can’t reach her, can’t touch her and it’s just wrong, wrong, wrong.

After an eternity, Shoyou speaks, breaking the trance. “Come on,” he says gently, “let’s go.”

She stares at the ground in front of her, vision blurry through her tears.

“There's nothing we can do, Yachi.” It's not what she wants to hear. But Shoyou can't, won’t give her false hope.

Yachi squeezes her eyes shut and opens them again, blinking away the hot tears. The last thing she wants is to leave. But Shouyou is right.

Yachi tears herself away from the glass. There's a lump forming in her throat and her insides writhing. She allows Shouyou to lead her away, guiding her by the sleeve. Yachi pauses a moment later and glances back at Kiyoko.

“Don't worry,” she says aloud, voice trembling. “We'll get you out.”

The moment the words are out of her mouth, she regrets it. She can’t keep a promise like that.

Kiyoko’s expression does not change. For a second Yachi hopes that she didn’t understand, that she was unable to read her lips.

But then, very slowly, she nods. Her smile doesn’t reach her eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hydro (water) + sapiens (humans) + amabae ("amabie" a Japanese mermaid myth)
> 
> "hydro" is the genus not "homo" bc human scientists want to distance themselves from merfolk as much as possible. also i think it doesnt make sense w/ evolution u can fight me on this
> 
> and I suppose there would be diff. species (races?) WITHIN hydro sapiens, in the West for example "lorelei" or "nymphae" instead of amabae 
> 
> I spent wayyyy too long thinking about this lmao


End file.
